Evaluation of ultimate strength of stiffened panels under longitudinal thrust

• A series of collapse analyses is performed on stiffened panels.
• Nonlinear FEM is adopted to solve the collapse analyses.
• The results are compared with CSR for bulk carriers, PULS and simple formulas.
• Simple formula is modified for evaluation of the ultimate strength.

A series of collapse analyses is performed applying nonlinear FEM on stiffened panels subjected to longitudinal thrust. MSC.Marc is used. Numbers, types and sizes of stiffeners are varied and so slenderness ratio as well as aspect ratio of local panels partitioned by stiffeners keeping the spacing between adjacent longitudinal stiffeners the same. Initial deflection of a thin-horse mode is imposed on local panels and that of flexural buckling and tripping modes on stiffeners to represent actual initial deflection in stiffened panels in ship structures. On the basis of the calculated results, buckling/plastic collapse behaviour of stiffened panels under longitudinal thrust is investigated. The calculated ultimate strength are compared with those obtained by applying several existing methods such as CSR for bulk carriers and PULS. Simple formulas for stiffened panels, of which collapse is dominated fundamentally by the collapse of local panels between longitudinal stiffeners, are also examined if they accurately estimate the ultimate strength. Through comparison of the estimated results with the FEM results, it has been concluded that PULS and modified FYH formulas fundamentally give good estimation of the ultimate strength of stiffened panels under longitudinal thrust.